We were near the statue now, jostled by the crowd. I’d always liked Molly. I thought she had a kind face. But she looked different today. Someone had pulled a bag over her head and a rope around her neck. Tears jerked into my eyes.

“Finn, I don’t like it.”

“SCION OUT! SCION DOWN! SCION OUT OF DUBLIN TOWN!”

“I want to go home.”

Finn’s girlfriend frowned down at me. Kay. I’d always liked her. She had beautiful hair, a dark auburn that shone like copper and curled like springs, and her arms were pale and freckled. Finn had given her a claddagh ring, which she wore with the heart pointing toward her body. She was dressed all in black, and her cheeks were painted green and white and orange.

“Finn, this could get violent,” she said. “Shouldn’t you take her home?” When he didn’t reply, she hit him. “Finn!”

“What?”

“Take Paige back to the house! Cleary has pipe bombs in his car, for Christ’s sake—”

“No way. I’m not missing this for the world. If these bastards get in, we’ll never get them out.”

“She’s six years old. She shouldn’t see this.” Kay grabbed my hand. “I’ll take her home if you won’t. Your ma would be ashamed of you.”

“No. I want her to see it.”

He knelt down in front of me and pulled off his cap. His hair was tousled. Finn looked like my father, but his face was warm and open, and his eyes were blue as the summer sky. He put his hands on my shoulders.

“Paige Eva,” he said, in a very serious voice, “do you know what’s happening?”

I shook my head.

“Bad people are coming from over the sea. They’re going to lock us up in our city and never let us leave, and turn this place into a prison city like theirs. We won’t be allowed to sing our songs anymore, or visit people outside Ireland. And people like you, Pip—they don’t like you.”

I looked into Finn’s eyes, and I understood what he meant. Finn had always known that I could see things. I knew where all the ghosts of Dublin lived. Did that make me bad? “But why does Molly have a bag over her head, Finn?” I said.

“Because the bad people do that when they don’t like other people. They put bags over their heads and ropes around their necks.”

“Why?”

“To kill them. Even little girls, like you.”

Now I was shaking. My eyes hurt. A bubble filled my throat, but I didn’t cry. I was brave. I was brave, like Finn.

“Finn,” Kay said, “I see them!”

“SCION OUT! SCION DOWN!”

My heart was too fast. Finn wiped my tears and put his cap on my head.

“SCION OUT OF DUBLIN TOWN!”